BREVARD COUNTY ... The Manatees downed Dunedin, 5-4, in ten innings last night winning the game on a sacrifice fly by Lee Haydel in the bottom of the tenth. With the win, Brevard County is 5-1/2 games behind Tampa for the race to the second half championship. Overall, the Manatees hold the league’s best record at 67-41 and are 40-23 in the division and 34-17 on the road. Brevard County leads the FSL with a 2.73 team ERA and 854 strikeouts and is second with a .265 batting average.
TOP HITTER AND BASE STEALER ... The Manatees boast the league’s top hitter in outfielder Logan Schafer, who is hitting .307 entering the series, and the league’s top base stealer in Erie Farris, who has 57 stolen bases so far, nine more than the next guy.
MANATEES HAVE ARMS? ... The club also boast two of the FSL’s best pitchers in Amuary Rivas (11-6, 2.87) and Evan Anundsen (8-8, 2.92), who rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in terms of earned run average. Rivas’ 11 wins is third best in the FSL.
THE SERIES .. The two clubs have met 14 times prior to this series with the Manatees holding an 8-6 advantage. Lakeland has just a .214 batting average over the 14-game series while posting a respectable 3.34 earned run average. Meanwhile, Brevard County is batting .278 with a 2.33 ERA. Flying Tiger Chad Linder has two wins in 5.2 innings of relief work while shortstop Audy Ciriaco has three homers and 10 RBI in the series. Manatee pitcher Evan Anundsen is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA vs. Lakeland.
FSL-RECORD TYING GRAND SLAM ... Audy Ciriaco homered in the sixth inning with the bases loaded on Wednesday night at Clearwater in the continuation of a suspended game from July 7. It was Ciriaco’s third grand slam of the season, tying a Florida State League record held by five others. The last player to hit three grand slams was Anthony Raglani for Vero Beach in 2005.
GAGNIER’S GEM ... L.J. Gagnier started a game way back on July 7 at Clearwater and had a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning before rains forced the suspension of that game. When the date came to resume the game on Aug. 12, it was Gagnier’s turn in the rotation, so he went back to the mound. In all, Gagnier tossed his second complete game of the season holding the Threshers to one unearned run on five hits while striking out eight and walking two.
A QUIRK OF THE BASEBALL RULES ... When is a game not played on the actual day it was played? When it’s a suspended game. Since the Lakeland/Clearwater game was suspended on July 7 and then finished on Aug. 12, all of the statistics from that game are logged as having taken place on the date the game had begun. So, in other words, Audy Ciriaco’s grand slam and L.J. Gagnier’s complete game on Wednesday will go into the books as having been hit back on July 7. Any questions? Ask Yogi.
ATTENDANCE UP ... Lakeland is averaging 949 fans per game this season. Last year, the club average 840 per game for the year.
AWESOME AUDY ... Shortstop Audy Ciriaco had hit safely in his last six games (10x27) and nine of his last ten (16x42) with two doubles, one home run.
DING DONG ... Clearwater set the tone for Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Flying Tigers with a pair of homers in the fourth inning off Mark Sorenson. Cody Overbeck hit a two-run homer for the Threshers on a 2-1 offering by Sorenson while Gus Milner sent the next pitch deep as well for a 3-0 lead.
LASTER MOVES UP A NOTCH ... Jeramy Laster hit his ninth homer of the season on Aug. 11 to give him 33 for his two-year Lakeland career and now ranks fourth on the Flying Tiger’s all-time career home run list. He trails Alejandro Freire who hit 34 homers in 1997-98, Garth McKinney who had 35 round-trippers in 2006-06 and Leo Daigle, who holds the franchise record with 41 dingers over the 2000-02 seasons.
GAGNIER MOVES INTO TOP TEN ... With his eight strikeouts on July 7/Aug. 12, L.J. Gagnier now has 112 punch-outs this season, which is the ninth highest total for a Lakeland pitcher (since 1978). Gagnier is currently tied for Justin Bettencourt (1997) for the ninth spot. The Lakeland record is 134 held jointly by Jordan Tata (2005) and Rich Lacko (1987).
13 AND COUNTING ... Including tonight’s contest, Lakeland has just 13 home games left, including just eight in August. Lakeland closes out the season with a six-game homestand in September.
CARLSON ON DL ... Chris Carlson, who ranks second in the FSL with 13 homers, has been placed on the disabled list with an arm injury suffered back on Aug. 5.
NEW CREW MEMBER ... To help fill the roster spot voided by Chris Carlson’s move to the disabled list, Detroit promoted Hernan Perez from West Michigan to Lakeland. Perez has responded by collecting five hits in four games so far with a pair of doubles and four runs batted in.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS ... Andrew Hess (3.30 ERA), Mark Sorenson (3.47), Charlie Furbush (3.49) and L.J. Gagnier (3.69) all rank in the top ten in terms of ERA among all of Detroit’s minor leaguers. Gagnier is second with 112 strikeouts, two behind West Michigan’s Casey Crosby.
PROMOTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS ... Friday’s game will feature happy hour from 6-7:30 p.m. with free samples of Select 55, Budweiser’s new lager, available while supplies last. The first 500 paid fans at Friday’s game will receive a free second-half team photo. Friday is also “Bark in the Park” co-sponsored by the SPCA. Saturday is Elvis Night with a special appearance by “The King”. The Flying Tigers have also partnered with the ALS Society to help educate fans and bring awareness to “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” on Saturday, which is also Prostate Awareness Night at Marchant Stadium.
BACK TO SCHOOL ... The Flying Tigers are asking fans to donate school supplies for needy Polk County children. They will a collection bin at the main gate for donations.
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Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
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